Recycling lumber, part 1

[Paul Incognito]

So I'm demo'ing a porch at my day job, and it turns out the corner posts are 6x6 oak. Woowee, I can do something with these.
Well, I watched Roy Underhill make a Roubo bench with "rising dovetails" to join the legs to the top. After about a week of wrapping my head around how this joint is even possible, I decided to give it a try. It'll be a small bench, about 42x 22, but it'll be good practice.
I resawed the posts, glued up a top, milled some legs and went to work.
As you may be able to see from the last pic, the fit ended up pretty loose at the face. Time for a redo.

[Tom Winship]

Pardon my ignorance, but I see the term "roubo bench" on posts a lot. What does that mean?

Tom

[Paul Incognito]

I wasn't happy with the fit of the dovetails, so I cut them off the top and figured I'll mortis and tennon them together. This morning I goofed off a bit instead of going to work and started on the leg/stretcher joints.
I gotta say, I'm pretty happy with the fit of the first one. I'm going to drive a couple of wedges in, that's why there are gaps at the top and bottom of the joint.
I gotta go to work now. I'm looking forward to working on this through the blizzard this weekend.
I'll post more progress pics as I work.
I'm having a lot of fun with this aspect of woodworking. I've been making a living as a carpenter for all of my adult life, but work is all about efficiency, and power tools and air nailers get the job done. It's nice to slow things down a bit and not hear the whine of the power tools.

[Paul Incognito]

Tom,
It's a type of workbench.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=105713
There's others on this forum who can give you some better details, but my understanding is that the legs are tennoned directly to the top with no apron and they usually incorporate a leg vise. I find them to be very elegant in their simplicity.
PI

[Bob Glenn]

Pardon my ignorance, but I see the term "roubo bench" on posts a lot. What does that mean?

Tom


Tom, Andre Roubo wrote and illustrated a wood working journal back in 1600 or 1700's and drawings of his bench are well documented and copied, thus the term Roubo bench. I may be wrong on the time frame.

[Tom Winship]

Thanks, Paul. I'm sure the "roubo" stands for something.
Tom

[Rob Young]

Thanks, Paul. I'm sure the "roubo" stands for something.
Tom

It stands for Mr. Andre Roubo's last name... :cool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Jacob_Roubo

[harry strasil]

The pictures in the first post remind me of the old Puzzle Joint, the "Impossible Joint".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/impossiblejoint001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v81/irnsrgn/wood/impossiblejoint002.jpg

[James Ogle]

Harry,

That is pretty much exactly what it is. Roy loves that joint. He even made a mallet (http://www.woodwrightschool.com/making-the-mystery-mallet/) using it to attach the head to the handle. It is one of those things I keep meaning to do but always just do standard pegged M&T's or wedged through tenons instead.

[harry strasil]

One should practize a couple of times before trying it for real. DAMWIK

[Paul Incognito]

Quote: The pictures in the first post remind me of the old Puzzle Joint, the "Impossible Joint".

That's one of the names Roy called it.
It took me about a week to understand that it actually works, and it wasn't until I made one that I saw how.
I'll keep working on it, in the meantime, I'm putting this one together with mortise & tennon joints.
PI